


rather swing and miss

by eeveepkmnfan



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: M/M, Open to Prompts!!, Writing Exercise, prompt collection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-08 12:03:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20835161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eeveepkmnfan/pseuds/eeveepkmnfan
Summary: A collection of prompts for any variations on Verde/Skull/Reborn!





	1. call off your ghost

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!! I'm so excited to start writing this! I'm welcoming one word prompts or colors for this collection! Feel free to send some in if you'd like! I'll also take requests for continuations of previous prompts if anyone's interested!! Hope you enjoy reading! <3
> 
> Title from the song Fighting Fish from Dessa, and this prompt's chapter title is from the song Call Off Your Ghost by the same artist!

Verde wakes to the sound of nothing; eyes snap open, skin tenses, fight or flight except at that moment it’s more muscle memory that lets him calmly sit up and look upon the singularity. That bastard is just there, sitting on his desk chair with sun-shot eyes daring him to keep looking - he does, of course. It would be even more unbearable to look away. 

He glares and glares and the epitome of last night’s mistakes smirks back and tilts his head mockingly, the yellow band around his fedora following him. Verde remembers exactly what red looks splashed against it - a backdrop to all the trouble it inspired. 

“What are you doing here,” he eventually grits out, throat sleep laden and more a growl than a question; all the better. He has never been one to put stock in manners (waste of time), and somehow, he doubts that will change any time soon.

The Bastard leans forward and puts hands on his knees, so very interested as he drawls, “My, were you expecting… company? Or were you in a hurry last night?” It takes a second for the implication to set in, but once it does, it’s impossible to bat away (it’s always the blood that washes out in the morning - never the water). 

He lets out a sound that someone might mistake as a hiss and he throws the blanket off his form as he then yanks open one of his dresser drawers in search of a shirt, hands fumbling just a bit (not used to this much sleep) as he finds one. Once sufficiently clothed, he turns sharply on his heel and sneers, the man’s lips turned up as he takes Verde in.

“Shame,” is all he sees fit to say, and it’s so infuriating, so very expected and yet he wasn’t ready for it at all, it’s all of this and a full four hours of sleep that make him clench his fists, once, twice, and then he does something very, very stupid. (Later, he will laugh and laugh at what his actions will have caused, and if he’s laughing at himself too, then no one will ever know.) 

Verde glides over to that smug faced bastard, smooth as anything, and he smiles as he grips the other man’s hand, pulling him to his feet. He’s being humored, like some sort of favored pet - the bastard’s eyes say it all, even if his mouth didn’t. This man finds all of this - last night, this morning, and worst of all, _Verde himself_ \- amusing. And it’s that more than anything that Verde can’t stand. 

And just as the man opens his mouth to say something goading and embarrassing, Verde makes the decision to save them both the time and trouble.

Without another word, he kicks the bastard in the dick. Hard. He’s hardly the most physically capable person (he will never be like those idiots who tried to torment him all those years before - science trumps all, in the end), but he honestly feels a little proud of what he accomplished as the man lets out a gutted breath and bends over, almost falling over. 

He does laugh when a second later, the bastard straightens up with no issue at all, pain forgotten as he finally drops that smirk, whiskey eyes darkened even more. 

“What was it you were saying last night? ‘You’re honestly precious.’” Verde is probably smiling like a maniac (like the mad scientist his classmates accuse him of being) but he honestly can’t give any less of a fuck. It’s this bastard who decided to wake up him with his sheer obnoxious presence, so the least he can do is let Verde have this.

The bastard slowly, ever so slowly, grips him by the hips and pulls him in fast. The only reason he’s not trying to get away is because he expected this (because to look away is to admit weakness). 

But it’s the words that catch him off guard.

“You’ll pay for that later, _Alma_,” he purrs the words, clearly relishing the surprise it causes (how? how? _how?_) as Verde visibly startles. His body continues functioning but it feels as if his mind takes a great pause, and with narrowed eyes he examines the man in greater interest. Much greater.

“I believe you have me at a disadvantage,” Verde nearly snarls, looking up up up at this utter _bastard_. (a height difference of only a few inches - they might as well be miles.)

The man gently holds Verde’s wrist in his hand as he bows and then, bright yellow eyes mocking and playful, kisses the back of it, the barest press of lips to skin.

“My name is Reborn, the demon with whom you entered into a contract. Once forged, it can never be broken - except by fulfilling each of our vows. Now, Alma -”

And Verde has heard just about enough. He wrenches his wrist from the other man, skin crawling just from the sheer touch of those fingers (that fucking mouth) and as he bares his teeth, he snaps, voice seeing more action in less than an hour than it usually does in one day, “My name is _Verde_, and you are _no one_!” He moves to go, get away, anything except this moment, this man, this bright morning free of blood and excitement both.

But you can’t run forever. His time is up, and as the blasted man turns him around and then taps his hand just once, lightly, and he looks down only to see a pentagram etched into his very skin, the same symbol he saw the other night (he would never forget), he stops. And when he looks back at him, the man almost smiles at him. 

“I’m yours, Verde, but you are _mine_.” And it’s such bullshit, but for a single moment, just that one second after it’s said -

Verde almost believes it.


	2. ringtoss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This time the prompt is 'Blue' from vindice! Thank you for prompting me!! <3

Skull felt the air conditioned air and smelt the chemicals that indicated 'swimming pool' before he even opened his eyes. A hand at his wrist, his pulse point, shifted ever so slightly.

"Finally awake, Skull?" His voice was that of the night - quiet, controlled, ever mysterious. Skull didn't even tense (his heart know this man). He sits up, feeling that touch upon his skin slipping away like ice in the heat. His friend is a difficult one to catch; but doesn't that make the chase that much more fun?

"A swimming pool, Verde?" He could have said any number of things: why did you take me at night, why do you look so resigned, did the blood on your labcoat come from someone else? But he chose the simplest (couldn't bear to ask a harder question - please, not yet). 

Verde didn't say anything for what seemed to be minutes. He did sigh, however, as his eyes inspected every inch of the chlorine infested water, which in this light, looked almost a perfect mix of blue and green. He looked like he didn't want to look, not really. So Skull did the only thing he was good at - making a distraction. "Well, I have to say, this is at least a better date than that time with the aquarium." And as Verde looked back at him, the scientist was a little bit grateful but mostly irritated; an expression that Skull had very early on in their friendship been made accustomed to. 

It was as if his friend the scientist couldn't exist without frowning ever other minute. (Verde had called him a singularity before, had even called him fascinating of all things, but Skull had always known that really, those words were for Verde.)

"You have a rather peculiar flair for dramatics, Skull," Verde said, words one thing but tone another. For the life of him, he couldn't understand why. 

Silence surround them at that - silence and the barely there hum of the pool's filtration system. Sitting there right beside Verde, never touching but infinitely _aware_ of the other man (how could anyone not want to solve him?), Skull made the decision to take off his pink and white striped socks to instead wrap his feet around blue-green water that clung just as loosely. 

Wriggling his toes, feeling eyes press in on him like so many shadows, Skull imagined that he could have said anything. But Skull had never been one for idleness, for all he was fond of the virtue of patience. 

"You got my letter, didn't you?" He asked, and in that moment, bare of make-up and his usual purple contacts, he felt apart from himself in a way he so rarely was. 

The blurry sheen of Verde's reflection in the pool pulled out an envelope, and Skull let out a huff of air. He didn't really want to know how Verde managed to find a way into a one time show room only to steal someone's mail. ("I keep every eye on my investments, Skull.")

"Checkerface, was it?" And it was the distaste and almost _anger_ in those words that caused Skull's head to whip around in shock. "You've met him!?"

Verde clenched a fist, seeming reluctant to even speak the words. But Verde was practical in all respects, even when he tried to deny it. "He gave me a letter whose contents looked much the same."

Skull didn't understand. "Why are you angry, Verde? It's just an invitation, isn't it?" He heard the hollowness in his own words, and maybe that was why Verde was suddenly shouting, packing back and forth before even a second had passed. (A single splash was all it took to make waves.)

"He has no right to you!" It was a shout laced with such urgent desperation and fury that Skull's mouth opened only not to close. He'd never seen Verde like this before, even if he'd always understood that his friend had a sharp and terrible temper.

"Who is he to dare try to posses that which can should never be possessed? Skull!" Verde turned on a dime to face him, and his mouth snapped shut as he nearly jumped. He smiled, or tried to, so very confused, as his friend looked at him like he held the legend to a high school history exam - it was a lot of pressure.

"Skull, there is something I need to tell you, but first, we have have something to do." Green eyes picked him apart and it was such a familiar feeling to him, was something he'd treasured above anything once he had it, that he instant knew:

Before Verde asked, his answer had always been yes. 

So when the question hit his ears, "Will you consent to an experiment?" he was grinning bright and warm and with teeth, the only smile he'd ever given the man across from him - the man who looked back with wild (lightning) eyes and had _never_ once seen something lesser in Skull.

"Yes," he breathed, breathless and struck by how endlessly _fond_ he was of this man who's stumbled into his life like a natural disaster and then never left - had made the decision to stay. 

He'd never imagined this the first time they met, an over hurried busy-less body run careening into such a scientist, but he couldn't wish for being anywhere except here, really. In this moment, and in all the time he'd spent with Verde - Skull was a live wire snapping and sparking and never cooling down (his fire was ground fire). He was alive and the rush was exactly like being on his bike in front of huge crowds, except maybe a little different. 

He wasn't in any hurry to figure it out, though, which was a thought that made him laugh giddily as he stared at his friend. "Will it hurt?" He asked, voice louder than he meant, tone somewhere between flirtatious and nervous. 

Verde pushed back his glasses up with a flick of finger (so cool!) and _smiled_ at him, wicked and devious and proud (at his very best). "Oh, Skull, that all depends on you." And he wasn't sure if this was just how Verde flirted back (did this count as foreplay?) but he decided to count it as a win anyway and so he winked, watching with glee as Verde didn't even blink at the gesture.

And then, before he could even spit out another poorly delivered line, Verde and he were in the pool, in the water, and hands were holding him down no matter how much he flailed or struggled, and that was the moment he remembered: he couldn't swim. (And that wasn't why the aquarium had been such a disaster, but it probably should have been.)

He struggled and struggled, heart beating fast, eyes open wide at all the blue, blue, blue surrounding him and filling his lungs and it was impossible to breathe between all of this but as it was he wondered if he'd been dating a serial killer all this time and that, now that made him choke on all the trouble his giggles got him. 

The hands on his neck tightened, and he couldn't see anything then, only black and blue and Death, sending him their regards. It was like his shows, but then again, it really wasn't, because this time it was Verde killing him and oh, this was such a shitty experiment, seriously, and -

All thinking cut off then, his brain vainly trying to preserve oxygen, and the hands keeping hold of him felt like a hug from Death - cold and comforting even if it shouldn't be. 

After that, it was his body and not his mind that told him, 'You're dying.' And _oh_, it hit him then: he was going to die. And maybe he would have been fine with it before. But now, now he had - and, and there were still so many stunts he wanted to pull, so many things he wanted to ask the world even if (especially if) it wouldn't answer back.

Skull didn't have regrets, but then, he realized he _did_, and suddenly, he was alive and looking out over waves of purple, a sea of it floating - and then, him.

He was pulled to the surface, and as hands _sparked_ as they ran over his body (but they didn't even hurt), his lungs suddenly heaved as he spit out mouthful after mouthful of chemical blue water, except - 

In the light, it almost looked green.

Skull looked up at Verde, who was radiating such smug vibes that really, he couldn't possibly be faulted at all for punching his serial killer boyfriend (paramour? love interest? partner? they were something, in any case) in the shoulder and hacking out yet more water. 

"You're a jerk and I hate you," he managed to get out, but all Verde did was laugh, and it took a minute for Skull's brain to start working again (but it might have just been from almost dying).

"It worked. It worked, Skull, do you know what this means?" Verde was as excited as Skull had ever seen him - proud and superior and sharp looking and god, but his serial killer boyfriend was such an ass. 

"No, but tell me anyway," Skull said, and he couldn't help from grinning back, just as manic and just as crazy.

(Later, when he and Verde arrived together to a _whole ass mafia gathering_, Skull would make a rather... unique first impression as he introduced them as, "Skull, and my mad scientist husband, Verde. Good to meet all of you, I guess?")

At that moment, all he could see was green.


	3. loops, in yarn (but never cursive)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's prompt is 'Airship' from MakeItVoid! Thank you for prompting me!! This one was so much fun to write, mostly because of all the dynamics of the relationships Skull's teetering back and forth on! <3

"What are you doing?" Verde asked, voice superficially interested but genuinely a bit distracted - sitting there at his desk, in his room, Keiman slumbering away nestled against his feet.

Verde had once said that Skull made it hard to concentrate, but in his head, in his heart - 

Skull wished to always be so distracting, and it was an abstract thought for a real emotion, that quiet longing that had snuck in and struck him and then held him up by his own arms: it was that kind of feeling (it was entirely new).

_'Trying to figure out whether I should just say it or not (that I have such a crush on you)'_, he, of course, did not say. Instead, he went with the tried and true , "It's a personal problem." And he left the words there; didn't want to pick them back up.

He should have known that a scientist would. (His Lightning, his Element, his subject of endless curiosity - something they were both bound by, only this time it was by their choice. Theirs.)

Verde said nothing in reply, merely hummed something noncommittal, and Skull was too relieved to pay it the attention he should have. No, instead he went back to fiddling with the miniature airship he was building on the floor, knees drawn up and arms laced tight.

And the rest of the night passed in mostly silence, the kind where you can feel that person (you know the one) near you, can feel their presence tangle in yours until it's almost like you're blending into them and into the wallpaper. A special and less talked about kind of closeness - but it was there, and Skull did his best to hold on to it.

When it was time to sleep, he put the half finished airship on top of his dresser and then fell into a blurry half remembered dream in which he flew beneath the surface of the earth only to come home (not here, never here) with all of its shining insides strewn across his skin like living jewels - then, he woke up and it was thus forgotten or pushed down into nothingness the same way a shadow died.

It felt like a good morning, and so as he stood facing the bathroom mirror, eye shadow and lipstick and foundation painted on, he drew a single purple heart on his cheek alongside instead of his usual tear drop using the face paints he remembered bringing with him when he first came here - confused, scared and wary but as long as he had some kind of makeup, he felt artificially invincible, like nothing could hurt him (but they did).

Reborn was the only one to comment on it, because if the others were content in silently judging him for every mistake he hadn't even known he'd made, then Reborn was only happy at all after he'd committed them. (Happy to tell him all the ways he went wrong - and it was fucked up, but in the back of his head, a part he seethed silently with, he _learned_.)

"What's that, lackey?" The Sun asked, the dragon sitting on his starlit, burning hoard and laughing with his hands at the single and solitary person who he'd yet to steal. (Some part of Skull was already his, but at least it was an equal ownership.)

"A favour for this morning!" And at his words, Fon aimed a questioning glance his way, mouth busy with tea, and in Colonello's own words, "You will never make sense, Skull." It was all too plain to see that the rest of the Arcobaleno agreed (except, except, except - but did that even count?)

But Reborn only took his words in stride, watching him with unblinking eyes (he really was just like Leon sometimes, and on threat of death, maybe Skull would be forced to admit - it was almost... cute). And maybe that meant something, but Skull turned away and headed towards the kitchen before he could decide. 

"One espresso, right, senpai?" It was a question that was more habit than anything else, just as Reborn's purring drawl of, "Don't disappoint me, Skull," was habit too.

He didn't mind making Reborn coffee (hadn't even that first time), because he'd been through so many short term jobs that he'd long since lost track of all the random things he was qualified for - the point being, making the dragon coffee was a routine now, one that he would honestly dislike not doing now that it had become so entrenched into his memories. (And if some part of him relaxed when he steeped his Cloudy flames into the drink, then that was his business.)

As always, when Reborn had that first sip, his shoulders softened just an inch (just enough), and his eyes when they looked back at him were sunshot bright and fierce in defense of something Skull didn't have a name for yet as he said, "Thank you." And his words were what caused Skull to straighten up as subtly as he could (civilian through and through), and a part of him shined and sparkled and was made new by the equally as fierce _pride_ that Skull felt for himself.

Then, Skull sat down to eat - their eyes broke contact - and life continued.

That little routine, those two words - they were part of why Skull's favorite time of day was the morning now. (He had so many new opinions now, and sometimes he wondered if he should make more of a point between the Skull of before and the Skull of now, and just what would become of the him that was for the future.)

Two months later, all the Skull of the future encompassed was sheer confusion; blood on his mouth and his Lightning panting as they ran, a mission gone a little sideways but still a success, even if they'd had a few close calls - and then Verde had turned to him and said, detached and so sure of himself those stupid fucking words.

"You are attracted to Reborn." Just five words, and Skull's heart drummed a beat that felt unhealthy. Ridiculous, he wanted to say, except - except, Reborn had always been the exception, hadn't he, whispered a tiny part of him that he immediately tried to murder with no remorse. Half of him admitted it and half of him denied it, but it was all of him that said to Verde, "I think I'm in love with you," and as the scientist's head whipped around to face him with wide eyes and a steadily creeping flush, both angry and embarrassed, Skull thought to himself that this really wasn't the time or place.

"This is no mere _jest_, Skull! I understand why one would feel the need to deny being attracted to... that man, but as it stands-!" But as his fellow Element sneered his words out, glaring and more off balance than he'd ever seen, Skull said in response to his thoughts of mere seconds ago, 'Fuck that,' and then he yelled, "Verde!"

Verde stopped, looking about a minute or two away from storming off or even devising some wicked scheme to mildly inconvenience him, but he stopped and that meant that Skull had him right where he wanted (or there-about). 

Skull stared straight into toxic green eyes and blurted out, nearly giggling, "You're an idiot!" Before the scientist could even open his mouth again, he barreled straight on: there was no fire after the pan - merely wild free falling for forever and after. "You're an idiot, Verde, and I love that about you, and I'm half in love with you already, even if Reborn is _unfair_ with how he, he exists! I mean, I'm pretty sure you're attracted to him too (is it just me or is it confusing to want to punch someone and... and kiss them at the same time)? Anyway, I just wanted to say... um, you're really really cool and - would you go out with me sometime? Maybe?" 

Verde, looking for once as if he's the one to have been struck by lightning, says nothing for a long while as he actually takes off his glasses and then places a hand over his face for an awkward few seconds. Then, when he's back to normal, the look in his eyes part wonder and part wry humour, all he says is, "Yes. I think I would like that very much."

This is the best part, time, night, mission, everything. Just - the best, and so, in the spirit of how far complete and embarrassing honesty has gotten him, Skull says, laughing at himself (an inside his head joke), "If I'd known all it'd taken to get a date from you was to -"

"Don't finish that sentence," Verde snaps out, but it lacks the bite that's saved for anyone other than the strange group they're a part of (and sometimes, even them), so Skull simply grins (with so many teeth).

When they pass Reborn, it's a reflex to lick at the blood painting his lips a deep red (murder: free lipstick! a hysterical part of his head is in hysterics over this). Reborn (is this the dragon you're looking for?) puts a hand to his hat to shield his eyes but not before sending Skull a smirk laden with promises, if only he ever asks. 

Maybe that's the basis for most of his understanding of Reborn, in fact - the silent and uncompromising rules they both know by heart by now. They can have entire conversations with a simple cup of coffee or a single hand that corrects his posture - and maybe it's fitting that it's only right at this moment that Skull can see that. There's so much he has to say to and think about regarding this man, the dragon of the Arcobaleno (the Sun, never yours and never really anyone else's either, but -) but right now all Skull wants to do is take Verde by the hand and fall asleep listening to him running experiments or researching. So they do. Later, he'll sort out everything else.

Later, he'll take down half of a miniature airship and build it back more of itself.

**Author's Note:**

> My own prompt: Demon


End file.
